Jarvis the working cocker and Bailey the labrador are highly trained Urban Search & Rescue (USAR) dogs. 

Along with veteran handler Graham Currie, the dogs are first responders to disaster scenes in the UK such as train crashes or collapsed buildings. Bailey is also an ISAR dog - working internationally as part of a search and rescue cooperation that came into being after the 9/11 attacks. 

Their job is to find survivors among the rubble who may be buried or unconscious, so that they can receive medical help as fast as possible. They are part of the Technical Rescue and USAR Station at Essex Fire & Rescue Service.

This interview is packed with practical insight into the dogs' training and the organisational and logistic support of the wider team. Graham describes their experiences together in the kind of life and death situations that few dogs or humans encounter. 

Graham also talks compellingly about the team's volunteering as an International Search & Rescue (ISAR) team -  Bailey's most recent deployment was to Venezuela in the wake of its huge earthquake. 

Urban search and rescue is a discipline that demands exceptional steadiness, where no two days are the same, and in which their success is the difference between life and death for survivors. 

Graham and his dogs travel long distances when required, so must be at ease on boats, planes, being airlifted by a helicopter or swinging from a rope so once they arrive they are ready to work.

Find out more:

• Dogs at the Essex Fire & Rescue Service
• Service Dogs UK

Related episodes

• Rusty the Hampshire Search & Rescue dog
• Throwback: Lottie, the missing persons investigator
• Wessex Bloodhounds: hunting humans for fun
• Louis the Fire Investigator
• P.D. Albee, the cadaver dog
• P.D. Jaxx, the victim recovery dog 
• Mabel, emotional support worker in the fire service

Do you work your dog or dogs?

I love to meet and hear about working dogs of all kinds and LOVE introductions - so don't hold back. Find me, Kate Fairweather at team@shineradio.uk

© & ℗ Kate Fairweather 2026